The All Progressives Congress, on Thursday, distanced itself again from an alleged splinter group, Team New Nigeria, after the group flooded Kano metropolis with the campaign posters of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
The ruling party insisted the group did not emanate from its fold and were not known members at any level of the APC.
The rebuttal comes five days after the TNN announced that its loyalists were leaving the ruling party to form a new political party that would rescue Nigeria from the threshold of poverty, hunger, insecurity and devastation.
The group’s National President, Modibbo Farakwai, boasted at the official inauguration of the Kano State harmonisation committee that they were targetting no fewer than 26 million voters across the country.
On Thursday, posters of the former President running for election in 2027 flooded Kano streets, sparking speculations about his possible return to the political arena.
The posters, seen at strategic locations such as Gyadi-Gyadi/Zoo Road flyover, Kofar Nasarawa, and State Road, featured messages like “Team New Nigeria 2027; The Goodluck Nigeria Needs — Dr Goodluck Jonathan.”
The development intensified conversations about the 2027 presidential race, with prominent figures like Peter Obi, Atiku Abubakar, and the incumbent President Bola Tinubu expected to contest.
Efforts to reach Jonathan’s spokesman, Okechukwu Eze, for reaction were, however, unsuccessful.
The former President faced similar circumstances when numerous supporters procured nomination forms for him on the APC platform for the 2023 elections, a move he claimed to be unaware of.
TNN has constituted a harmonisation committee in Kano State and was on the verge of registering as a political party with the Independent National Electoral Commission.
The group claimed to have mobilised 26,382,000 registered voters across Nigeria and has developed essential party structures, including a flag, logo, constitution, and manifesto.
When contacted, a foundation member of the Arewa Consultative Forum, Alhaji Tanko Yakasai, said Jonathan, like other qualified Nigerians, was at liberty to contest for the presidential race.
“Jonathan did not have his second mandate, as he lost the race to former President Muhammadu Buhari. This is another opportunity for him to complete his tenure,” he said.
However, the ruling party insisted that the members of the alleged splinter group are not from the APC.
In an exclusive interview with The PUNCH, Deputy National Organising Secretary of the party, Nze Chidi Duru, highlighted that their printing and promotion of Jonathan’s campaign posters despite knowing he is not a card-carrying member was a further validation the TNN was never from the fold of the APC.
“I will not venture into any conjecture. It is a group I consider to be amorphous that is not known to the APC. If they were genuine members of the APC, it would have been clear to them that former President Goodluck Jonathan was not a member of the party.
“Even when a group purchased a form for him within the APC in the last election, they were immediately discountenanced and Jonathan was not given the ticket. Until he is a card-carrying member of the APC, it is only then we can give him that recognition.
“But following or having an understanding with a non-member of the APC again validates the position that these (splinter group) are not members of our party. If they are members of the party and want to form a different initiative within the APC, they are more than welcome. It is the beauty of democracy.
“In so far as this has not been done and they are now working within the ambit of the APC, they cannot be considered to be members or have any link whatsoever with the APC,” Duru explained.